Hong Kong’s John Lee to return to Beijing on Sunday for talks on deeper economic integration with rest of nation
- Eight high-ranking officials overseeing areas such as finance, education and technology to join city leader on week-long trip to Beijing
- Discussions with Beijing officials to focus on ‘Hong Kong’s active integration into national development’, with trip to overlap with end of two sessions meetings
Hong Kong’s chief executive will lead a high-level delegation to Beijing on Sunday for a week-long trip to discuss how the city can better integrate its economic development with the rest of the country’s as it more closely aligns itself with the nation’s goals.
“Lee will visit various central ministries and authorities in Beijing to exchange views on issues of common interest, with the aim of enhancing interaction and cooperation to promote Hong Kong’s active integration into national development and create a strong impetus for the growth of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,” it said, adding the delegation would return on March 18.
The annual meetings of the country’s top legislature and political advisory body wrap up on Monday. Lee travelled to the capital last Saturday to attend the opening of the meetings.
As part of the trip, Lee will attend Monday’s closing ceremony for the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature.
The bay area refers to Beijing’s initiative to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine other southern Chinese cities into an economic and business hub.
Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki, Hong Kong’s No 2 official, will serve as acting chief executive while Lee is away.
On Friday, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) also elected its new leadership, with former city leader Leung Chun-ying becoming Hong Kong’s sole vice-chairman on the advisory body.
Its standing committee welcomed 16 Hong Kong delegates as members. Among the newcomers were former health minister Ko Wing-man, lawmaker Martin Liao Cheung-kong and Irons Sze Wing-wai, the honorary president of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association.
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Meanwhile, it was understood that a closed-door meeting was held earlier on Friday among local members of the CPPCC focusing on the bay area, with the presence of authorities from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, as well as the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.
Leung was said to have called for more cross-industry collaboration in the bay area in his keynote speech.
Johnny Ng Kit-chong, one of the 124 participants, said Leung was “very positive” about the prospect of such collaboration, but did not specifically name the industries that should be involved in it.
“My understanding is that the technology sector should work with the healthcare sector in bringing products to improve people’s well-being,” said Ng.
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In addition, Leung also called on delegates to assist in conveying the country’s advancement to Hongkongers.
“He particularly mentioned China’s first commercial aerospace industrial base in Nansha of Guangzhou, noting the CPPCC Hong Kong delegates should know more about the capabilities in different fields and help Hong Kong take advantage of them,” Ng said.
The base, with a production capacity of up to 30 rockets per year, has been operating since January.
Local delegate Eliza Chan Ching-har said the bay area had been discussed in previous years but was overshadowed by other issues Hong Kong faced, such as the imposition of the national security law in 2020, the “patriots-only” electoral overhaul the year later and the pandemic’s fifth wave last year.
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“So this year, with no critical issues affecting Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area stands out and becomes a popular mention among delegates,” said the solicitor, also a member of the Executive Council, a key decision-making body.
The first to speak at the closed-door meeting, Chan tabled three proposals this year, with two directly related to the city’s role in the bay area.
She suggested allowing more mainland Chinese provincial and municipal governments to issue offshore renminbi government bonds in Hong Kong, an international financial centre ideal for promoting the internationalisation of the yuan.
In 2022, Hainan province and Shenzhen – one of the bay area cities – issued bonds not exceeding 5 billion yuan (US$717.8 million) in Hong Kong.
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The bay area also featured in proposals tabled by other newly elected local CPPCC delegates. Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, CEO and executive vice-chairman of New World Development, advised setting up a data centre in the Lok Ma Chau Loop, which he said could help Hong Kong become a “super-connector”, linking the country with the rest of the world.
In his proposal, Cheng said at the centre, data from the mainland and Hong Kong would be processed, analysed and studied. The original data would be stored in the centre, while the results could be used for commercial purposes, such as giving them to universities or selling them to businesses.
Nisa Leung, a managing partner of Qiming Venture Partners which invests in the healthcare sector, proposed expanding the renminbi’s use in the city’s stock market by allowing more Hong Kong-based companies to participate and launch more yuan-denominated financial products.
